1. Technical Field
The invention generally relates to the field of digital content and in particular to a framework for specifying access to protected digital content.
2. Background Information
A “paywall” blocks access to digital content with a dialog box, window, or page requiring payment. Websites use paywalls for various purposes, such as requiring subscriptions to access newspaper articles. A paywall can support various usage models, such as a particular number of free views per day (per user) or a particular number of free views total (per user). Specific usage models are hard-coded into existing paywall solutions. Online publishers want to try a variety of sales models and usage models and see which models best meet their needs. However, no framework exists for specifying different types of access to protected content (e.g., different usage models).